Dear Future President,

Teenage pregnancy is when teen girls between the ages 15 and 19 become pregnant. A majority of those teen moms will be left at a disadvantage. According to the CDC in 2014 alone, 249,078 babies were born to teen moms. This report does not take into account the number of pregnancies terminated, or the specific number of teenagers who were pregnant. Modern Moms annual statistics show that high school dropouts have the lowest earning potential, and teen moms will more than likely drop out to take care of their baby - should they choose to keep it - and get a job.

Considering most jobs require a high school diploma, those teens would be at a considerable disadvantage. Especially if they need to find a job that will cover the costs for transportation, payments, and food for her and the child. National Coalition states that the teens who drop out will more than likely be in a state of poverty by the time their child reaches the age of 5.

My sister became a teen mom her senior year of high school, and she went through new emotions and would swing from one to another; it was quite difficult on her. Only My Health states that pregnant teens will go through emotions such as depression, worry, helplessness, and possibly family hostilities, which can prove hazardous to the mom and baby.

With poverty and emotional distress seeming to be a predominate problem, there needs to be improved ways to counter them. The government, for example, offers Medicaid and WIC for financial assistance. Along with the government pitching in, the hospital should hand out information packets to these pregnant teens so they can learn about opportunities that they may not have known about before. Emotions are something that we experience through new occurrences in life, and with all of the powerful feelings a pregnant teen may go through, there needs to be a knowledge of how to cope with those particular feelings. Therapy or group sessions could help with that, so in turn, there needs to be an accessible system in which any choices that those teens may have can be known.